At Long Last
by GohanGenius'85
Summary: Trunks faces his past and he can't seem to face the future? A sad yet sweet story of pain through Mirai Trunks's eyes, can he ever find the courage to love another again? Please Review.


Disclaimer: You all know the drill by now, right? No! Well then, story  
is mine but dragonball/Z/Gt characters belong to Akira Toriyama and  
the networks that air them.  
  
Warning: Tissue warning and sap warning. Trunks is in his mid thirties  
but still looks young. TRUNKS SPECIAL.  
  
At Long Last  
  
Trunks gazed out the window letting one tear escape from his   
blue and weary eyes. He knew that somewhere up in the sky his father  
was watching the weakness in his son.   
"Father I am not worthy of being a leader, I am s..sorry father  
for weeping my heart is weakness but with mother gone and Gohan gone  
I am so empty inside..." Trunks whispered quietly. It had been almost  
one month since Bulma's sudden heart attack. His beautiful yet old  
kaasan (mother) had been the only light in his life for so long now.  
Then one day even she had left him alone with his worries and prayers.  
He wanted to go back to the other diemension where the world was never  
silent, never attached to the horrid past, with so many friends. Sure  
he had two best friends, in fact orphans who were turning into great  
leaders. Abela and Carson. Nowadays even those two led their separate  
ways, ever since his mother had passed on, nobody seemed to want to get  
close to him. In fact he had heard Chi-Chi say that some feared this  
sorrow would drive him insane and they were scared of his power now.  
Poor Chi-Chi was so lonely, in fact even lonlier than he. She had  
downright refused to remarry and tarnish the memories of her shortlived  
happy past. It wouldn't be long before his old mentor's mother also   
died. She it seemed though was dead long ago, she had almost committed  
suicide a few days after the shock of her only son's death. Now Trunks  
wished he hadn't stopped her, since he was thinking about suicide a lot  
now. In his depressing thoughts, Gohan stood protecting him promising  
to always be like the missed father he never had the chance to have.  
"Everyone promises to never leave me alone! But at the end,   
they always have to die!! What sin have I done to deserve this father?  
Mother? Mentor? Friend? Trunks cursed his fath aloud. "These hands,  
these filthy blood-stained hands could have saved you Gohan, even you  
mother, yet they have always let me down! Now perhaps it is only fair  
I be punished by a fate worse than death, the fate of lonliness." He  
gently got up off the couch, wiping off any threat of the Prince's   
dignity. He went over to an old album, in fact it was falling apart.  
He thought to the day when he was only seven or so, his mother had   
called him and Gohan was giving him a most strange look. Then his   
mother had asked him gently to sit down because he needed to know   
something. Gohan had looked away, unfortunetly his gaze had fallen  
to the exhausted graves of his friends and his father. Gohan had only  
been twice his age but he looked like an old man when one looked   
closely. He remembered his mother and Gohan explaining about all those  
who fell victim to the androids and how they were heroes. He had never  
understood that break in training, that speech or how important it was.  
Now he understood Gohan and his mother had meant for him to understood  
that this battle was personal and that he should take an example of  
courage in the roughest of times. With this memory shining in his   
brain, Trunks dozed off to his private nightmare. He was suddenly  
disturbed by a soft knock on the door. *Strange, who would visit me at  
this hour and why is this ki so familiar.* Trunks thought confused and  
weary by the minute. His body ached for him to release his rage at the  
person who dared disturb his lair. *Be proud father, your son has the  
Saiyan instincts.* He opened the door with a loud...  
"What do you want!" Trunks yelled aloud and was instantly   
taken aback by the beauty that stood before him and not the nosy press  
who refused to leave him alone.  
"Um..is this the home of Trunks Vegeta Briefs?" She asked.  
Her beauty and gentleness shook the Prince to his bare bones. Her eyes  
were a dark green and her hair a mix of yellow sunflowers and green  
grass. She had a certain aura about her that left Trunks speechless.  
She was older looking than him and certainly not the most beautiful  
female in the world but she was something unique, spicy, and elegant  
all at the same time. "Did I come at a bad time or something?" She   
asked nervous at the long shocked look that was plastered on to his face.  
If she wasn't so nervous, she would have laughed all the way to the floor.  
"No...Not at all......oh and yeah I am Trunks, and uh who are  
you?" Trunks stuttered out aloud. All his years of manners forgotten.  
"My name is Barice and could I please come in sir?"  
"Oh sorry I mean surecomeonin." Trunks said beet red.  
"Um thanks I guess.." Barice said. Barice sat down on the   
couch amazed by how huge and empty the place was. "This is a really  
nice place you have here, but I gotta ask how come there is no one here  
but you, I thought this was supposed to be the most and I guess only  
striving company in the world."  
"I sent them home a month ago after......my mother passed away  
because I you know need to be alone for a while." Trunks said honestly.  
"I am so sorry about that, anyone who raised such a great  
boy like you shouldn't have to ever die." Barice answered softly. She  
noticed that again after the boy had seemed to regain his composure, he  
had once again lost it and was red and blushing more than a ripe  
tomato.  
"T...Th..Thanks and I um well do you know me?" Trunks asked   
uncapable of holding in his pestering question.  
"Well actually yes, I was hoping you'd remember me though, oh   
well I don't look too much like when I was 14, anyway you saved me from  
the androids in Spice City and I thought I should thank you properly."  
"I am sorry that I don't remember you..."  
"Well it's quite alright since I am now 32..OH before I forget  
you left this with me, told me to hold on to it right after my parents  
passed on, said it would keep me company and you're right it has." She  
took out a picture of Gohan, baby Trunks, Bulma, and Vegeta. Trunks  
gasped, how could he have forgotten her?   
  
Flashback.  
"Daddy, Mommy, nnnnnnnnnoooooooooo you monsters killed my   
parents, you sick, twisted cans of metal took my parents life!" A   
young girl cried out in agony. Her beautiful feautres shifting to  
pure terror and anger. Her hair was damp from the bleeding chest of her  
father, her eyes were glazed from the unforgiving tears of pain.  
If she hadn't been crying Trunks could have sworn she was the most  
beautiful girl ever since he had only started to see them when he had  
turned 15 a couple days back. Gohan and his mother was all he had.  
He knew his fighting the androids now would be suicide and he could   
sense Gohan was close and would probably punish him for putting his   
life in danger stupidly but how could he let her die? Android 18   
pointed one glowing finger at the girl with a menancing laugh.  
"Gohan won't get here in time...I..I can't just let her die."  
With those words uttered aloud, Trunks dived in and saved the girl.  
Their eyes met for the first time and Trunk's heart leaped to the   
heavens. If he had known better, it was love at first sight. He had  
managed to get the girl to a safe place but not without the androids  
on his tail and a pretty badly burned leg. She had inspired him so   
much after that encounter but after Gohan had died, her memory died  
with Gohan because it made Trunks happy and thus weak. The girl was  
even comparable to the infamous beauty of Bulma Briefs. He remembered  
how empty he felt when he couldn't find her and talk to her.   
  
End of Flashback.  
  
"YOU were THAT girl, oh my dende, the..the eyes and the hair  
are the same, how could I have forgotten?" Trunks said amazed. Now it  
was Barice's turn to blush a deep red.  
"Yes, I have...always wanted to give this picture back to you."  
"Huh why?" Trunks asked hurt, he had given the picture to not  
only make her feel better but because he liked her a lot.  
"Well when I heard your mother died I asked people about you,  
all of them knew you but none of them said anything good about you so  
I wasn't sure if it was you until I asked Carson about you, and then I  
knew it was you for sure..."  
"I understand that and you'll hear that a lot and don't   
completely ignore it...don't be scared or anything but life isn't easy  
is just the tip of the iceburg for me but it'll still doesn't make  
sense to why you'd want me to have this back." Trunks asked dazed and  
confused.  
"He said that I shouldn't visit you too because he thought you  
needed to be alone to sort out your thoughts but I know that's the last  
thing you should ever do and I knew then that I had to come and give  
this picture to you." Barice tried to explain, brows narrowing in  
deep concentration trying to explain her feelings.  
"Now why would you say that? I actually do want to be alone  
no offense or anything to your visit." Trunks asked more confused.  
"Because I know what its like to lose loved ones and how the  
lonely thoughts can consume you and haunt you until the sun rises and  
sets, you don't know how much this picture meant to me, its all that   
kept me sane so it must mean even more to you besides it time I think  
you had some company and something to keep those thoughts at bay."   
Barice said hoping Trunks wouldn't ask her anymore questions. It was  
still hard not to think about the brutal murder that changed her life.  
"I...I see and thank you but if it means so much to you then   
please don't worry about me and keep it, its a gift." Trunks replied.  
"After the murder..." He had to stop after the third word because the  
woman had broken into tears that didn't suit her features then or now   
and had leapt into his arms surprising him, nearly knocking him down.  
He gently wrapped his arms around her, gently tousling her long   
greenish hair rubbing her softly on the back. Soon her sniffles slowed  
and so did her irradic breathing and Trunks realized that she had   
fallen into a deep slumber. He didn't want to wake her up so he gently  
put his head on her back and fell asleep just as gently and this time  
the nightmares seemed to evade his thoughts.  
  
5 Years After: During this time Trunks decided to train her like Gohan  
had done to him and they had grown close with the heart stabbing pain  
in their hearts bonding their souls forever. Her strong will and   
attitute yet soft kind words tore through all of his defenses and he  
began to feel a warm glow in his heart. Even Chi-Chi smiled once in a   
while seeing Trunks and Barice together. Trunks had proposed and   
Barice had accepted.  
  
Trunks approached the car with his newly wed wife and co-  
manager in his arms happy as ever in his life. A small frown unnotiable  
to anyone else drowned his handsome features.  
"Honey, is something wrong?" Barice gently whispered into the  
groom's ear brushing strands of purple aside.  
"I am sorry Barice but it feels so wrong to be happy while  
I still look at the some of the ruins of this city, so many innocent  
people died here, so many good warriors shed their blood on this very   
ground never getting a chance to be happy so why should I when I don't  
deserve it." Trunks said. He was surprised when he was punched in the  
gut hard.  
"Do you still love me Trunks Vegeta Briefs?" Barice coldly and  
firmly stated.  
"Yes" Trunks squeaked out still trying to catch his suprise   
then breath.  
"You know other men would have tried to yell at me or hit me   
back in a fit of rage and never loved me back so don't say you don't   
deserve it because you truly do so stop ruining this day and shut up   
while I kiss you." Barice said with a hint of naughtiness in her voice.  
She leaned over and gave him a light kiss breaking away to get into  
the car.  
"But..But..." Trunks stuttered back into Barice's stern and  
angry features realizing she wouldn't take much more of this. Then  
he looked deeper to see a gleam of something wet in her eyes and it   
broke his heart.  
"Is it so hard to be happy if you truly love me?" Barice said  
quietly. As Trunks was thinking about that, he didn't hear the horn  
pounding and his world drifted to a bloody red to a deathly black, in  
this he wondered if again fate had played a dirty card on him and made  
him lose another he love.  
  
Several hours later  
  
Barice stood still, biting her nail in the waiting room of the  
new hospital. She was bandaged in a few places here and there but   
nothing too serious except a broken arm. She had screamed and fought  
with the doctors until they let her out to worry in front of the  
emergency room, in fact she had fought even harder after one fact that  
the doctor had told her.  
"You better not die on me buddy, I didn't go through five years  
of training to be left here withour either a trainer or husband so   
please dende don't let him slip, to god don't let my love die." Barice  
said beginning to break. The doctors had conformed that his condition  
was dire and serious and darn the fact that she couldn't fly so she  
could get a sensu bean. She felt too utterly useless and weary.  
She felt like she was getting morning sickness again but she knew what  
it really was so she prayed to the still form of her newly wed husband.  
"Come on Trunks! Fight for me, fight for what I have to tell you,  
you have definetly faced worse odds so I know you can get through this  
no problemo so why aren't you?!." Barice cried out aloud falling asleep  
on his bandaged chest.  
  
In the Mid Way between Life and Death  
  
Trunks stood still in a swarm of colors, he felt so weak, he  
felt so useless, he felt like he was dead already. *If I am so tired  
and weak how can you have survived my sweetheart, I wish I could be  
judged already so I can get to you for fate had unfavored me once again."  
As he prepared to separate his soul from his body, he felt a slap on   
his face. He opened his eyes...very,very wide. There is front of him'  
stood all the Z warriors, in the very front of the row there stood his  
father and mentor giving him angry glares.  
"How can this be, am I already dead?" Trunks whispered aloud,  
it seemed to echo forever, he held his head in agony and drifted away  
from the sensation.  
"Hmph you disgust me brat, how dare you call yourself my spawn,  
you're such a disgraceful weakling!" Vegeta spat out.  
"Is this how you honor me Trunks, is this how you honor my  
teachings..." Gohan said firmly and sadly.  
"I don't understand..." Trunks answered back.  
"Stupid brat, first you get depressed beyond a Prince's control  
and cry like a little baby then you marry an Earth woman only to leave  
her in less than a day!" Vegeta said looking away.  
"How can you just give up your life and not even fight for it,  
don't you know how precious and short it can be son of Vegeta, Trunks."  
Goku said warmly.  
"What?" Trunks said.  
"Trunks I thought that I was a better mother than this, that  
I taught you to never give up no matter the odds, all you have to do  
is accept the pain you've been running away from and you leave it all  
for something that ended years ago..." Bulma said angerly.  
"The stupid Onna (Woman) is actually right for once, sure you're  
sad that we're all gone but you are a Prince and my spawn and being it  
you should never give up." Vegeta said. "I died fighting, and you   
honor Vegetasei and our race by voluntarily giving up everything, you  
won't even stay for your mate and unborn kid unless you want to be the  
father I was." Vegeta said surprising everyone but Goku.  
"You...You mean Barice is still alive and I have a ...child."  
Trunks said shocked and excited.  
"Yes you baka (idiot)." Vegeta shouted.  
"Even if she had died Trunks, you shouldn't ever be left here   
in this desolate place, I was here when I saved you Trunks, I couldn't  
leave you to be alone until I realized I could teach you no more and   
that I would be a threat to you but I didn't want to give up my life,  
I fought and I lost as any man should, as any warrior should." Gohan   
said strongly. Vegeta nodded.  
"And what's this about us not being happy?" Krillin said.  
"Huh." Trunks said.  
"Trunks it wasn't your fault that we died and sure we didn't  
have too long to live and all but I can say for all of us we didn't  
have that bad of a life before so stop blaming yourself kid, you're   
starting to sound like Gohan." Krillin said. The others nodded  
their heads in agreement even Vegeta.  
"Son you have a beautiful life ahead of you," Bulma said putting  
a comforting hand on Trunks shoulder,"you should listen to that girl  
one day Trunks because she's right you can't keep blaming yourself  
and you do deserve to have a happy life, you have a worried bride in   
the other diemension so go to her before she floods the room k." Bulma  
said warmly.  
"And listen Boy you are my Prince and now King so start showing  
some dignity and don't put that fate c**p on me, you decide your own  
destiny and that's the end of it so do us all a favor and have some  
fun." Vegeta smirked.  
"Father...No please don't leave me again.." Trunks cried out  
as he felt himself returning to his body.  
"Brat I will never leave you, I will always be watching over  
your pathetic family and you but right now you got yourself a edgy  
mate who needs you more than we will so go, you'll be here soon enough  
anyway, don't make it now." Vegeta said and the Z fighters began to  
dissapear and he thought he could feel Vegeta's arms around him.  
"Goodbye my student and prosper well, make sure I did not die  
in vain, free your pain so I know that I gave you a life worth living."  
Gohan said smiling before he too vanished in the heavy mists. Trunks  
missed them so much but now he could see Barice and made her memory  
fill his heart. It hurt a lot but he finally opened his sapphire  
eyes to his world, his bride.  
"Ba...Barice I love you..." Trunks whispered before he drifted  
into dreams. He felt her feel the same for him.  
  
In 9 Months  
  
"Trunks Briefs of Capsule Corp. I presume I have good news your  
wife is fine and you have two healty twins, one boy and one girl, you  
may see them now if you wish." The doctor informed Trunks. Trunks  
stood shocked, his face contorting to a goofy smile and ran past the  
doctor into the room almost breaking down the doors in the way. What  
he saw made tears flow out of his eyes. His wife and two beautiful  
children.  
"Baby what's wrong now I mean I just went through relentless  
hours of labor and you're crying?!" Barice said confused.  
"I am sorry Barice but I am so happy, I mean I don't know..."  
"Here Trunks hold him, and here take her and be careful, I think  
that you can finally say something after you hold them and I sleep..."  
He looked to his beautiful babies, names pouring through his head.  
"Honey would it be alright if we named his Vegeta Gohan Briefs   
and our little girl Bulma Barice Briefs..." He was so surprised when  
Barice leapt into his arms in joyous tears and whispered yes with  
unimaginable emotion. "Don't worry about anything anymore Barice,  
for now I am truly at long last free of my grief, let's promise to hold  
the past where it belongs and to look to the future of our little  
angels." Trunks said as he kissed his sleeping wife on the forehead.  
*Don't worry little ones, I will always be here for you so you'll never  
have to be sad ever.* Trunks gave each of his children to the doctor.  
Not before giving them each a light kiss. He stayed by her side until  
he too fell asleep. Dreaming about his little green eyed doll with   
her light blue hair and the blue eyed boy with the greenish spiky  
hair with tints of black. Unknown to him Vegeta was right next to him  
gleaming with eternal pride and he sensed the immense amount of power  
from the children and that they were his. 


End file.
